The planes and cranes were airborne together at last! Franklin County, Alabama has had them in a grip since they landed there in December. Well, guess what? They're baaaaaaaaaak. All the air time on the first fly-day of the resumed migration ended up back where they started. Today's rodeo and roundup gave every team member a full adventure Richard and Brooke made about 8 miles of progress with cranes #1, #5, #6, #7 and #9 before landing, then taking off to turn back. Meanwhile, Joe flew in search of #3, #4, #10, and #12 after they broke away early and dropped down. Caleb found and retrieved #4. Geoff, guided by Joe aloft, retrieved #12 from private lands. An aerial search located #3, who was crated by Caleb. Crane #10 was last to return, after a team effort by Brooke on the ground with the crate and Richard circling overhead to guide him to the bird. We'll report again on the next fly day, and we hope it's a different story!

* The team at Operation Migration marked the end of the stand-down period of the 2011-2012 migration and re-started the "migration clock" on January 13, with Migration Day 75.